In this modern day society we are so accustomed to consuming media in our every day lives that we don think to question exactly what, when, how and why we absorb media. Over a period of 10 days my personal media use was recorded, allowing me to identify and analyse what specific media I use and also to explore any trends and relationships that focus on Journalism and Communication. From a survey conducted on JOUR1111 I will also evaluate my personal media usage in comparison with the rest of the cohort.
Media Use Log Over 10 Days (Minutes)
From the data recorded in the log, I broke the information down to create a pie graph showing the basic forms of media I used over 10 days.
From this
graph you can determine the following:
Television:
The graph clearly shows that I’m a television nut
as it is the media platform I use the most (43%). Before doing this assessment
I never knew that I watched so much television, averaging about 2 -3 hours a
day, but when I thought about it, it’s the most readily accessible and
economical way to get my daily news. I watch sunrise in the morning as I enjoy
the hard journalism aspects in news updates combined with entertainment through
jocular interactions between the hosts. At night time I watch Channel 7 news
both local and state as I’m a bit of a self confessed news lover, I like to
know what’s happening in the world, which is a clear demonstration of my
personal engagement with Journalism and Communication.
As seen in
the log, I spent 1000 minutes (16.5 hours) watching TV over 10 days, averaging
approximately 2-3 hours daily. Of course, not all of time was spent watching
news. I also watch programs that focus solely on entertainment rather then
journalism and communication qualities. A favourite program of mine at the
moment to help me wind down and relax is My Kitchen Rules as I like to think of
myself as a bit of an aspiring ‘foodie’.
From the
JOUR1111 cohort, roughly 15% watch the same amount of television as me, while
the largest percentage watch approximately 1-2 hours daily. However, from the
graph below it can be seen that the majority of students also get their daily
news from television, followed extremely closely by online news.
Print
(Newspapers, Magazines, Books):
To be honest
I wasn’t surprised at how little these traditional forms of media were presented
in my media usage log. As most of my news consumption is from television, I
never feel the need to buy a hard copy of a newspaper. I like the idea of
reading magazines, but I never have the time or financial means to constantly purchase
magazines that are of interest me when I can just peruse the Internet. Reading
a book however is my late night indulgence; I’ll be forever faithful to this
very traditional form of media, it stops my head spinning from the constant use
of social media, which I’ll analyse later in this report.
Radio: On average I spend about 30 minutes a day
listening to radio, mostly when I’m driving to university. From the survey (see
graph below) it can be seen that 24% of the cohort listen to less than an hour,
while the majority at 27% listen to 1-2 hours. This result may be due to
students that commute from regional Brisbane areas to the university have more
time in transit, where as it only takes me 15 minutes each way. As I have just
moved down to Brisbane from the Sunshine Coast I’m not familiar with Brisbane
Radio stations however I have been listening to Nova, which is good for quick,
and concise news updates as well as entertaining commentary. I think my overall radio
usage would increase if I found a station that is better suited to my music
taste.
Online: Since becoming an iPhone user, I can
confidently say the way I consume online media has changed, for the better or
for worse I’m not sure. With fast access to the Internet in the palm of my
hands all day long, I would say I spend triple the amount of time on social
networking sites and general browsing than when I was not in the smart phone
world. The times recorded in the log were based on my whole usage throughout
the day. This might be the similar case for JOUR1111 cohort, as shown below nearly 80% own an internet enabled
smartphone.
So, back to my personal online usage...
It is clearly
shown that social media platforms that form the semantic web such as Facebook,
Blogger, Instagram and emailing occupy 90% of my time online. From the moment
my alarm goes off in the morning on my iPhone the first thing I do is have a
look on Facebook, to find out if any major events have happened overnight. (I
don’t mean relationship statuses, sometimes I find out about breaking news on
Facebook before anywhere else). This continues throughout the day, (using my
iPhone) when boredom sneaks up on me in lectures, and even during add breaks
watching TV programs at night.
I’m becoming more and more partial to reading
the odd blog, although some may argue this, I see them as a unique form of
journalism and communication allowing one to let creativity flow and openly express
opinions without judgement.
I also
noticed that while I do spend a lot of time on social networking sites, I don’t
spend much time actually producing media. I’m not one of those serial bloggers,
posters, tweeters and updaters, I just like to connect with friends, be
informed of important and social events and basically just absorb things that
interest me.
When I’m not
using social media and just having a general “browse” I brush up on my daily news,
shop online, use online banking and research for assignments.
All up I
spent a total of approximately 15 hours online over 10 days, averaging around
2-3 hours a day. At first I thought this was extreme behaviour, but in
comparison to my cohort I’m part of the majority as 30% spend 2-3 hours online
daily. The graph below demonstrates how JOUR1111 spends their time online. My
personal online usage fits in with the large majority, as indicated by the red lines
that the largest percentage of time online is spent on social media. This
complies with the survey, which indicated that 95% of students have one
Facebook account.
So what do all these graphs and paragraphs
mean? Well, it seemed fit to show you this video......
Wow – is the
word that really describes my reaction upon completion of this assessment. I
never really considered myself as ‘News Guru’ or ‘Media Buff’ so it did
surprise me how much media has an impact and influence over my life – and I
didn’t even realise it until now.What I can
establish from this assessment piece is that in terms of my media use, I’m a
sheep following a big heard. Sorry to get all metaphorical there, but I was basically
saying that my high social networking and digital media use and rapidly
decreasing use of traditional media is an exact replica of todays ever
advancing society, out with the old and in with the new. Although I consume
media through non-traditional channels, in exempt of television, my persistent
demand for up to date news and constant social media interaction demonstrates a
strong relationship with Journalism and communication.
